The two teenage assassins did their best to focus on their work, despite the encroaching presence of the World's Greatest Hitman. The two did not have much success as they continued sneaking sideways glances to the suited infant who simply stared back at them.

"... Is there something we can do for you today Reborn-san?" Ever the polite one; Nagisa was the first to break the silence.

"I live here too now. I think I have the right to be wherever I wish." Reborn answered, a challenging expression settled upon his face.

"Er... right, of course." Nagisa answered with an uncomfortable smile. Tsuna shot the hitman a look. Reborn pretended not to notice.

" I merely wished to observe your study habits. It is my duty as Tsuna's home tutor. Please don't mind me and continue on with your work." They continued in uncomfortable silence for a short while longer before Nagisa stood from his place at the coffee table.

"I have to get going now, if I don't want to miss my train." The bluenet stated in answer to Tsuna's unspoken question.

"A train? What for?" Reborn asked.

" I'm going for a visit with my father today. I will be back in time for dinner, so could you let Okaa-san know please?" The bluenet explained as he packed away his things. Reborn took the oppurtunity to fish for more information on the blue haired enigma that was Nagisa Shiota.

"Just your father? You're not going to see your mother as well?" The hitman asked. It was a seemingly innocent question. Yet the sudden pressure that filled the room after its utterance was incredible. Oddly enough it didn't come from the boy in question - who appeared as if nothing was amiss- rather it came from Tsuna who remained seated by the coffee table. Even Reborn's experienced eyes couldn't make out the slightest signs of duress on Nagisa's person.

"My parents are separated, Mother is quite busy as well. Maybe next time." The bluenet said with a closemouthed smile. He quickly made his exit. Reborn turned to the source of the strange tension of the room -Tsuna- who was staring at him with utmost seriousness.

"Reborn-kun, I would appreciate it if you never brought up the subject of Nagisa's mother ever again." Tsuna seemed to only use honorifics with Reborn when he needed to get a major pint across. His respectful tone made it sound as if it were a request, yet his gaze made it perfectly clear to Reborn that this was an order.

"Did I just step on a landmine?" He mused, he thought it was only to himself, but Tsuna smiled the same overly polite, closemouthed smile Nagisa used, and Reborn realized he had spoken out loud.

"Yep, make absolutely sure you never bring it up around kaa-san. Unless you want an even bigger explosion." The brunet warned, returning to his studies. It appeared the boy was going to completely ignore the previous incident as if it never happened. Further resaerch into Nagisa, and Tsuna's past would be required of the infant hitman. Perhaps Verde has had contact with Viper? He made a note to contact the Scientist soon.

It was later, as Tsuna was finishing up his English homework, when the brunet noticed something strange outside of his window.

"Reborn... There is a small child outside of my window..." Reborn made no move to even glance outside where there appeared to be an eight year old standing on a branch. He was wearing a cow print onesie.

"Haha, I am Lambo of the Bovino Family! I've come to kill you Reborn! Now die!" The little boy declared, much to Tsuna's mortification, what kind of assassin declares his intentions like that? The cow child pulled a gun from who knows where and aimed it towards the worlds greatest hitman. He pulled the trigger; nothing. The gun was empty. The branch the child was standing upon took the oppurtunity to snap under the child's weight, gravity pulling the young one down with it. Tsuna scrambled to the window to see if the child was safe, but when he reached it the child was already gone. it wasn't long after when his his door opened and the child in question was standing in the frame. The boy- Lambo- tried everything from hurling grenades to casually introducing himself in an effort to get the world's greatest hitman's attention. All to no avail, finally, he started crying. Loud wailing sobs that both tugged at Tsuna's heart strings, and grated on his nerves. The brunet had enough, with a heavy sigh, and a stern look towards Reborn he went to the crying child.

"Making children cry isn't very nice Reborn-san, I know asking you to apologize is too much, but try being a little nicer from now on please?" He pleaded as he hefted the child into his arms.

"As a rule i don't acknowledge those from lower standing famiglia. Like the Bovino family." Tsuna rolled his eyes with yet another long sigh.

"He's only eight years old Reborn. C'mon Lambo-kun, I'll get you some snacks." He smiled down at the child, who was finally calming down, and left the room. Reborn hid his eyes beneath his fedora, a smirk sliding onto his face. the kid had guts, to admonish Reborn the way he did.

After a few cookies and several peices of grape candy, Tsuna had finally managed to wrangle a backstroy out of Lambo. The boy's family had sent him down here with the orders that he couldn't come back until he defeated The World's Greatest Hitman. It was either a suicide mission... or they just didn't want him to come back. Ever. Tsuna would admit that Reborn was a little bit more lenient towards children; he hadn't killed Lambo yet after all, despite several chances to do so. While Tsuna did his best to explain this abandonment to the child without causing irreperable damage the boy seemed to absorb the information with a distracted look on his face. While the fact that his family abandoned him hadn't registered Lambo did get the idea that he didn't have to murder Reborn anytime soon. Unfortunately the eight year old decided that meant living here. In his house. It wasn't exactly the outcome Tsuna was hoping for, but Nana would probably enjoy having a younger child around for her to spoil. Although, given the boy's bratty and demanding attitude, Tusna made a note not to let her spoil him too much.

As promised, Nagisa returned a little while before dinnertime. His meeting with his father had gone about the same as usual. While Nagisa didn't blame his father for leaving his mother- after all he did too in the end- Nagisa could never truly feel comfortable with his father. The tiny bit of resentment he felt wouldn't go away. When his father left his mother, he hadn't even attempted to fight for custody. The child inside Nagisa would always ask why he was left behind to suffer at the hands of his mother when his father left.

"Um... What is this?" Nagisa had not expect to come home to find a small child in a cow onesie to be sitting with his face to a corner in the dining room. Tsuna sat at the dinner table a manga in his hands and a watch set in front of him.

"This is Lambo. I don't know where he came from or how he got here, but he came to kill Reborn. I put him in time out because he's being a brat." Tsuna explained. He would brief Nagisa on the particulars later. The child in question deflated at the word "Brat" But remained facing the wall.

"And the... cow pajamas?" Nagisa dared to ask.

"I don't know, but I think they're the only clothes he has. I'll have to find him some of mine from when I was a kid." The watch beeped. Tsuna turned of the alarm and turned to Lambo.

"Alright Lambo. Time's up Have you learned your lesson?" The child got up from his position by the wall and came to stand in front of Tsuna. He nodded, a little subdued by his first punishment. It had taken well over two hours to manage the simple punishment of a ten minute time out.

"And do you know why I punished you?" Again, Lambo nodded.

"I broke mama's vase." Tsuna nodded.

"you did. and she was really sad about it."

"Lambo is sorry..."

"Apologize to kaa-san not me. But you have to promise not to use explosives in the house anymore all right?" Tsuna told the child.

"Lambo promises!" The child exclaimed eagerly.

"Good boy. Now go wash up for dinner. You can apologize to mama then." The child bounced up the stairs to the washroom in excitement; Nagisa turned back to Tsuna after the boy was out of sight.

"How old is he?" The bluenet asked.

"He's eight."

"He acts more like a five year old instead of an eight year old." Nagisa observed. Tsuna nodded.

"I think his family gave him whatever he wanted so they didn't have to deal with him. He didn't even know what a time out was until today. I thought it was just getting lost in translation, but I don't think he's ever really been punished before." Nagisa gave an understanding hum

"That type of neglect is difficult to reverse." He said. Tsuna gave a crooked smile.

"Aren't they all?" He asked, a bitter edge in his tone.

Class E was no stranger to the different forms of neglect and abuse. Tsuna could only consider himself lucky that he had one parent who was always there for him. Heck, Nana not only accepted that her son was an assassin, but she even all but legally adopted Nagisa into their home and gave him the love and affection that the bluenet did not recieve from his own mother. As for his father, the bitter feelings only grew when he thought of him. The less he thought about that man the better.

Tsuna wasn't stupid. He knew his father wasn't working on construction sites; nor was he dead, and oh how Tsuna wished that were true. In fact, Tsuna could easily find out his father's true line of work simply by asking ritsu to do a little digging. Those were the benefits of having a super computer for a friend after all. Tsuna simply didn't care about his father any more, at all. His father's secrets meant nothing to him after all. He wouldn't even bat an eye even if the man stopped sending them money. After all the money both he and Nagisa made off of Korosensei's assassination was more than enough to cover living expenses for quite a while, not to mention the money the two were making for the contracts they completed in their spare time. In fact, for the last few months the two had been siphoning money into Nana's account, despite her protests. This was their money and they should save it for their futures, she would say. It was only when the two promised that they were still keeping at least half of the money they made in their own accounts that she acquiesced. The family was most certainly not lacking in finances.

As the steadily growing family settled into their places for dinner, Nagisa noticed that Nana seemed even happier than usual. Having a younger child around must be the reason he guessed. Perhaps Iemitsu's total disregard for his family caused something inside Nana to take in stray children and give them the love and affection she was craving. or maybe she was just that good of a person. Class E wasn't exactly used to naturally good willed people after all. There must always be some sort of agenda. Either way, Nana had already been so good to him; he was simply pleased to see her feeling so joyful, even as the table erupted into chaos.

It started with Nagisa catching notice of Lambo's furtive glances toward Reborn. and then:

"Gyahhahaha Take this Reborn!" The cow child shrieked, as he threw his utensils with -quite frankly, stunning accuracy for an eight year old- at the infantile hitman only to be expertly blocked; Reborn returning them with twice the strength and speed. Nana held a concerned expression and opened her mouth to speak up only for Tsuna to speak to the child first.

"Lambo, a good assassin does not warn his target that he is about to attack." He chastised the child, who turned to him with interest the moment Tsuna began to speak. Nagisa supposed Assassination was as good a tool as any for restructering the childs behaviour. After all, it was what Korosensei di with them and they turned out all right.

"Furthermore, a good assassin is patient. He waits for an oppurtunity, when his opponent's guard is down before he strikes." The brunet had continued his chastisement into a lecture, keenly aware of Reborn listening with thinly veiled interest. This was the only way to curb Lambo's loud tendencies; by putting everything into the perspective of an assassin. It was obviously working as the child listened with rapt attention and immediately settled down. Nana seemed infinitely pleased and perfectly willing to ignore the previous show of violence; much to Reborn's consternation. Topics were changed and the Sawada family continued their dinner with ease.

Knowing that a secret was being kept from him made the World's Greatest Hitman feel curiously like an outsider amongst the housemates. Just what exactly were these people hiding?

"Shouldn't we look into enrolling Lambo into school?" Nagisa asked. The child in question turned to the bluenet with a pout already in place.

"But Lambo doesn't wanna go to school." He whined.

"Being in school is mandatory for a child your age. And what did I tell you earlier today when you called yourself the great Lambo-Sama?" Tsuna reminded.

"An assassin is just another face in the crowd. A good assassin does not call attention to himself." Lambo recited, already, the boy saw where this conversation was going.

"Being the only eight year old in Namimori who isn't attending school would certainly call for attetion wouldn't it?" Lambo nodded.

"Okay... I'll go to school." The boy was still sulky over it, but willing to do it. That was surprisingly easy, Reborn thought to himself.

"Interesting parenting style Dame-Tsuna. Where did you learn it?" Tsuna shrugged.

"I wouldn't call it parenting. I'm only teaching him skills he will need for the future." He said.

"You know an awful lot about being an assassin in that case. Or are these scenarios simply metaphors?" Reborn countered with a raised brow. Tsuna levelled him with a shrewd stare.

"If Lambo wishes to become an assassin when he is older explaining how these lessons will aid him in his future career will cause them to stick in his mind better. It is basic knowledge any teacher should know." He informed the hitman. As if a switch had been flipped, suddenly Tsuna was lecturing Reborn on the finer ponts of personalized lesson plans and getting to know your students as if he were a teacher himself.

Perhaps in some other parallele world; Tsuna and Nagisa grew into two fine teachers in Korosensei's memory. But that was not their lives. In this life they were assassins; slowly gaining fame and respect under their alias' Blue and Sepia.

With dinner and after dinner clean up out of the way, the children were free to go their seperate ways. It took much longer than expected to convince lambo to take off his onesie and change into some of Tsuna's old clothes. Nagisa could already see the tough battle on the horizon; convincing Lambo that his precious onesie should only be worn to bed.

Finally managing to get the hyperactive child to bed and asleep, the two teenage assassins were not far behind.

An/

This laptop is screaming. I don't know how long it will hold out but I would like to crank out a few more chapters of my fics before it kicks the bucket.

anyway. So, so sorry for my terrible update schedule. On the bright side I now have a tumblr, twitter, and Ao3 account that you can pester me for updates or behind the scenes content. All under the name filomene hara.

It's ridiculously hot here and my constantly overheating laptop does not help at all so I'm going to sign off for now until it gets cooler.

Until next time :))))

FH